How did you increase app downloads?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Rainier, Jan 16, 2013.

  1. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
    Just curious if others would be willing to share their wisdom: what are some of the best things you've done to increase app downloads?
     
  2. chenpo

    chenpo Active Member

    #2 chenpo, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2013
    Making the app free seems to give a good short-term boost.

    The first day I made Shuriken Chicken free, it jumped from practically nothing to about 8000+ downloads in one day.
     
  3. Stephen Richard

    Stephen Richard Active Member

    Jan 2, 2013
    33
    0
    0
    USA
    Go for some popular press release sites like prmac.com that makes some noise about your release and hence brings you more exposure about your Apps. Provide a free trial for them and ask them to do review of your app on their site.

    Share the resource URL in your own website and other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler etc by that people will get to know about your app.
     
  4. thanhquan1512

    thanhquan1512 Member

    Jan 16, 2013
    6
    0
    0
    Share your game on mobile games forums, at least you can get >100 notice a day :D
     
  5. rikschennink

    rikschennink Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2011
    127
    0
    16
    Webdeveloper
    Netherlands
    What worked for me.

    - Promoting via promocodes on touch arcade
    - Writing to game review sites using campaign monitor

    Till now my iPad update and free run of last december has netted me the most money:

    See this post about going free I posted a week ago: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=173694
     
  6. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
    Wow, that was a fantastic post! I'm not too far from the list of recommended steps provided by previous developers (thank you all for posting!); the one thing I haven't done yet is go free. It's a tempting prospect given the social nature of my game (since it requires two people to play). Some time in the future I'll have to give it some serious consideration given your results.
     
  7. GameHopping

    GameHopping Active Member

    I have searched high and low for these to market my free game.
    I posted MacRumors, Adventuregames, a few others and here, of course.
    Is there a good resource that has a list of these?

    And in an opinion type question, would a game get more DLs by starting .99 cents and THEN going free, as oppose to starting free from the start?
    Kind of to psychologically make it more valuable?
     
  8. djskinner

    djskinner Well-Known Member

    Starting at .99c and then going free is surely the better option. There is some more info on that strategy in this thread.
     
  9. pat3ck

    pat3ck Active Member

    Have you tried contacting different app review sites? Maniacdev has a massive list of 174 app review sites:

    http://maniacdev.com/2012/05/ios-app-review-sites/

    Make sure you pitch your app nicely so it will get noticed (especially the top-tier ones).
     
  10. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
    743
    0
    0
    so i know that people with promocodes carnt leave a review but does the fact that they have download it still go to increasing your ranking and search stats?

    Thanks
     
  11. rikschennink

    rikschennink Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2011
    127
    0
    16
    Webdeveloper
    Netherlands
    I'm not sure, it's only 50 promocodes per update, so on it's own that's not going to make much of a difference.

    It's all about what you ask in return for your promocodes. Make it a contest, share on Twitter, follow on Facebook, also, these people might show your app to others which in turn results in more downloads. Make the promocode thread look good, even when you've ran out of promocodes people might still buy your app.
     
  12. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
    Yes (and thank you for the list; I had it on my bookmarks as well). I hired a team to help do the outreach for me; I got a few genuinely nice responses (2-3) that ended up with some nice write-ups, while the small group that I heard back from ended up being pitches for paid reviews, a large majority of which appeared to have unfavorable ROI prospects.

    So far, press releases and contest/giveaways have been the biggest help for my downloads.
     
  13. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
    Very good advice :)
     
  14. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
  15. nada emara

    nada emara New Member

    Jan 23, 2013
    2
    0
    0
    Hello sir
    Congratulations for the new app
    If you want a cheap advertising for your app please checkout my list and my profile on freelancer.com
    http://goo.gl/JZn1V
    if you wanna use my services please contact me on
    [email protected]
    I don't provide app store reviews any more as they are very risky and illegal and mostly will get your apple developer account disabled and your apps will be removed from app store
    Also these days apple remove all fake reviews posted from fake accounts (accounts not connected with apple devices)
    So only I deliver only legitimate ways of marketing as
    1- create a n attractive html email to use it for review requests (this email gets instant response from the support )check the attached sample for 15$
    2-Submission of your app to 400 app review sites for 210$
    This insure good increase in your sales and provide life long exposure to your app
    3-Press writing and distribution to over 700 app sites and newspapers
    Only for 60$
    4-posting in application forums with your app link in my signature (each post for 0.75$)
    5-twitting many posts including your app link to my 2300 followers all are interested in applications (each tweet for 0,15$)
    6- promo codes give away(only for paid apps)
    This is a very good promotion way which will improve your app sales as when a user download your app using a promo code placed on some sites your app link automatically posted on their Facebook and twitter page so all of his friends and followers will see your app
    Need all available promo codes
    Price(50$)
     

Share This Page